ANSERES. 237 



224. ANSER ALBIFRONS. 

 (WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.) 



Branta aliifrons, Scopoli, Ann. T. Hist. Nat. p. C9 (1769). 



The White-fronted Goose is supposed to vary in length of bill 

 from frontal feathers from 2"35 to 1*6 inches. The white on the 

 forehead does not reach as far back as the eye. The legs are yellow 

 and the bill pale. 



Figures : Dresser, Birds of Europe, vi. pi. 414. 



The White-fronted Goose is a common winter visitor to the 

 southern islands of Japan, and passes along the coasts of Yezzo on 

 migration in spring and autumn. There is a male in the Swinhoe 

 collection procured in April at Hakodadi by Captain Blakiston 

 (Swinhoe, Ibis, 1875, p. 456), and there is an example in the Pryer 

 collection from Tokio Bay. The examples obtained by the Siebold 

 Expedition were probably procured at Nagasaki (Temmiuck and 

 Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, Aves, p. 125). 



The two adult examples of the White-fronted Goose from Japan 

 measure respectively 1'75 and 1*9 inches from frontal feathers to tip 

 of beak. If Anser gambeli be regarded as a distinct race the latter 

 would belong to it. The smaller bird is paler in colour and has a 

 white patch on the chin, but there is no reason to suppose that 

 American examples differ from European ones in any way. An 

 example from Brighton measures 2*05 inches from frontal feathers to 

 tip of beak. 



The occurrence of the Pink-footed Goose on the Japanese coasts requires authen- 

 tication. Captain Blakiston sent me the skin of a Goose which he obtained at 

 Hakodadi in October (Seebohm, Ibis, 1882, p. 369). 



There is no trace of black on the breast or belly. 



The brown of the head joins the bill without any trace of black or white. 



The whole bill is pale except the nail, which is nearly black. 



It is possible that this may be an example of a Pink-footed Goose, but, in the 

 absence of the black base to the biU, I am inclined to regard it as the young in 

 first plumage of the White-fronted Goose, of which an example in the Swinhoe 

 collection, dated Shanghai, 8 March, has only a narrow margin of white feathers 

 at the base of the bill. 



The Pink-footed Goose is only known with certainty to breed on Spitzbergen, 

 but its breeding-range probably extends to Iceland and Franz-Josef Laud. Its 

 occurrence in Japan, if confirmed, is probably only accidental. 



